Culture

It’s Time To Admit That James Is The Absolute Worst Player In ‘The Circle’ History

If not understanding the assignment was a person, it would be James.

by Michelle Rennex  29 September 2021
James The Circle Season 3

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In case you missed it, Season 3 of The Circle wraps up today — and what a season it has been.

Over the last few weeks, we saw poor Mama Michelle fall victim to the game’s savage clone twist, a ghost hunter burner profile appeared to shake up the competition, and some of the worst strategic moves in The Circle history happened thanks to James.

— Warning: Spoilers for Season 3 of The Circle ahead —

Now when James first entered The Circle after the real and fake Michelle were booted out, he was immediately liked by his competitors — and it wasn’t surprising at all. James was funny, charismatic, quickly made connections, and had a good nose for sniffing out catfish. I mean, after being in the game for about all of seven minutes, he already knew that Isabella and Jackson were not real and that Nick wasn’t to be trusted.

This is why it made zero sense when James basically handed the whole competition to Nick once he became an influencer.

The First Horrendous Vote

Despite banging on about being loyal to his Viva La Revolution Alliance — consisting of Daniel, Kai, Ruksana and Jacki — and being headstrong on not letting Nick sway his decisions during the Hangout chat, James folded way too easily. Twice.

In his first time as influencer alongside Nick, James just let Nick send Daniel home even though he didn’t agree with the decision. At the start of the chat, he literally said that he wouldn’t let Nick “run this conversation” and yet still ended up blocking someone from his own alliance. “He thinks he gonna run this conversation. He not. I ain’t gonna listen to him,” James lied, doing exactly what Nick said and wanted. “We gonna do what I wanna do. I promise you that, boo.”

With the vote split with three people on each alliance, it would’ve been easy for James to just hold strong to find out what would happen in a tie-break situation. Considering he was the #1 influencer, the power likely would’ve fallen in his hands to make the final decision. Instead, he folded. Fast.

Since entering The Circle, James constantly said he didn’t trust Isabella, and regardless of how close he felt to Ashley over Daniel, it made absolutely no sense to send home someone in his alliance with the final, where numbers dictate who wins, right around the corner.

And James’ Fall From Grace

But James really solidified his place as The Circle‘s worst ever player — and really earning that Class Clown title — with his second vote as influencer.

From the start of the competition, James knew that Nick was his biggest competitor. He literally had a murder mystery-style board full of yarn in his apartment that showed Nick had the most connections and was the biggest threat. So why the hell would James give Nick all the power AGAIN?

While the identities of the influencers were “hidden” during the last vote before the finale, it was pretty easy to figure out who was behind the anonymous pages by process of elimination. But even though both Nick and James quickly realised that the other was voting with them, James, once again, abandoned his alliance.

One would think that in a situation where two alliances were going head to head where you had just sacrificed one of your own, you’d have a pretty strong argument that the other side would have to lose a soldier now too, right? Well, that would be logical if you used common sense — something James clearly lacks in The Circle. 

Instead of fighting for his alliance — and frankly, the numbers needed to help him win the damn game — James personally booted Jacki out. Even though Nick proved himself to be the biggest threat after being voted influencer multiple times, James really thought that going into a finale in an alliance of two vs three was a smart move.

Every move that James made towards the end of the season was just so disappointing to watch. Honestly, for a moment there it looked like he was going to win.

When Jacki entered the game, it was James, Kai, Daniel, and Jacki in the majority — with James as the top influencer — while Nick, Ashley and Isabella were stuck at the bottom. But once James unnecessarily gave power to the ‘Band’ Alliance, he basically handed the $100,000 prize money over to Nick on a silver platter.

In a game that’s literally all about having strong connections that are likely to vote you into first place, James stupidly got rid of two people who ranked him highly — and in that, lost all chance of winning the game.

You can watch The Circle Season 3 on Netflix now.